ART REPORT - NAN SPURWAY

FROM THE ART STUDIO:

  Firstly Jean with his "Suit" painting in oils. It is one of the practice

 pieces for his end of year exams. This is of good quality, expressive and

 demonstrates movement in art. Nice take on the  background lighting and the

 highlights of the wrinkles in the suit. Well done!

 

 

 Gabriella was one of the first to finish her cosmos painting. It was not an

 easy task for beginners, but everyone tried hard and did well.  Ahmed's

 painting did not turn out to be cosmos, but instead floribunda roses and a

 nice painting anyway.

 

 

 Regarding the Gr 8's; at last we appear to be making progress even through

 all the "I can't paint", "I can't mix the right colours", "this is a boring

 topic" and so it went on until all of a sudden things began falling into

 place.

 

 There are a couple of students who may not  think they can paint or draw, but I

 already see the progress.  Keep going, you will learn to make good artworks.

 It is a subject which can be learnt, and I prefer to work with students who

 know little or nothing to those who think they know everything.

 

 I would like to commend Kian Wessels; from the first lesson he has helped me

 to clean up and pack away after class. I must say that a couple of others

 will clean up their own boards, but Kian has been my constant helper, thank

 you Kian!

 

 Thanks to all my students for your excellent efforts.

 

 

 The drawings:       The students had to draw from a picture of a drawing I

 gave them. The first is by Ahmed

 

and because I enjoyed his enthusiasm and frivolity of the drawing, I featured it together with one done by Gabbi, which is indeed good,

 

 and the other by Bradley who draws very well indeed.

 

 Nan Spurway

MORE TERM OUTING FUN

 

Kian simply could not get enough of the giant slide!

 

 

Motshedi and Ridhwaan feeling young again.

 

The Put-Put king

 

 

 

And at every outing, there must be a few teachers:)

 

Jancke obviously would find a pony.

 

 

Water, water and more water.......

 

While Nkosi is about very serious business!

TERM OUTING - STABLE INN

 

Playing pool and laughing - and endless fun!

 

 

 

The warm pool was a very big hit.

And then there was the amazing giant water slide!

 

TERM TEST 5 MARCH 2015

 Joshua got 86% for his Grade 8 Maths. Very well done Joshua - we'll be watching you all the way to A-Level Maths!

 

 

 

These two clever boys did excellently in their Extended Maths. Ethan achieved 93%, and Jared got 83%. Excellent work, boys!

 

 

TERM TEST 26 FEBRUARY

 

Erin achieved 82% in her Phychem test. Excellent work, Erin!

 

TERM OUTING THURSDAY 12 MARCH 2015

Our Term Outing this Term will be to the Stable Inn, just down the road from the school. The Stable Inn offers a whole range of activities including a warm, indoor pool, a trampoline, a gladiator, a slip and slide, Ten Pin bowling, as well as Volleyball and Soccer fields.

We'll be leaving school at 8.30 on Thursday morning (after writing the Term Tests) and will be at the Stable Inn until 15.00 ( Please collect from Stable Inn)

For R180 per student, we can spend the day at Stable Inn, use all their facilities, and enjoy a light lunch.

Please confirm with Monika as soon as possible, so that we can confirm our booking with Stable Inn.

Nan Spurway

ART LINE

BY

NAN SPURWAY

 

Peace and quiet:

            The artist featured this week is a gem in our midst. He is one of the better known landscape artists in South Africa, and Benoni is indeed fortunate to have an artist of his calibre.

Although I have met him only a couple of times and spoken to him, I found him to be a quiet gentleman with few to the point words.  The vast amount of  knowledge he has stored in his memory bank, will take me more than another lifetime to gather. I have asked him questions and there is no hesitation when he gives his full bodied answers. He is indeed a person who is not shy to pass on whatever knowledge he has to future generations of artists, for which he is commended.

Watching him paint on one occasion only, gave me much food for thought. A blank canvas is no doubt a challenge to him in that you see the sparkle of anticipation in his eyes as he peers at it, probably taking in the size and summing up proportions; he is about to make his next masterpiece. He chooses his brushes and draws his paints closer, carefully picking out the first few colours. It is obvious that each stroke of the brush is a pleasure not only to him but to his audience as well. He too loses himself within his painting and as he goes along he adds a little bit here and a little bit there which somehow appears to the viewer, to have been pre-planned.

He picks up a large well used brush, loads it with a colour, or a few colours together and paints in his background, sometimes using  long strokes, which he then (as it appears), wipes away with a cloth. This is followed by perhaps a little blue swiftly applied for the sky before adding another layer of foliage colours for the trees, and lighter colours in the lower foreground for ground or rocks. Sometimes as he says, his base layer dictates what his image is going to be. I am of the opinion that over the years he has become acquainted with many South African scenes and landscapes, thus he can pick them up by memory, rather than having a reference image before him.

He will then sort out smaller brushes and begin drawing trees with his paintbrush and again put in touches of darker shades in the background behind the trees, as he goes along. Thereafter come the tree trunks and lighter, brighter foliage in the foreground and of course the best bits are all the finer details.  Thus working from the far background, he will work towards the foreground.

            I cannot confirm that this is his chosen modes operandi, but it makes sense that an artist will lay one level upon the next.

Artist’s Comment:

            “Trees supply the oxygen; water quenches the thirst”

            These few words say it all!